Yesterday, I wrote this post summarizing my tenth grade sister's observations about how her friends are using technology. Do you have any relevant anecdotes to share from your own children or relatives (of any age)?

Related, should founders care if adolescents are (or are not) using their products? Sure, they drive a lot of growth and engagement if they are, but they're not necessarily the most loyal (or wealthy) bunch of customers. Is it the end of the world that Twitter can't attract children, for example?

Twitter is starting to capture a younger market, primarily due to the 1 way follow model. Younger users see it as an alternative to FB messaging that allows them to have a different social. You might even call it an aspirational social graph where Facebook is so closely tied to reality.

mtvinsights.tumblr.com

Interesting! A kid from Europe wrote an interesting post, too... jhmapleybrittle.tumblr.com

I've never heard the term "over-sharing" used by anyone under 20. The cynical analysis is that the up and coming generation is so self absorbed that they feel a need to share and get feedback on everything they do. But it's not just an interest in broadcasting everything to everyone. These users are genuinely interested in what their peers ate for lunch; or screenshots of album art of the music they are listening to on Spotify; or a photo of a badge they just earned on Halo.

Personal identity is becoming an amorphous concept that bleeds into our social interactions. It's a fundamental psychological difference that is going to have some interesting implications for social software. It's our job to stop complaining and embrace it.

I have said for years that Facebook is like wandering around in a vast mall, while Twitter feels like an intimate cocktail party. The MTV numbers and their analysis is more or less in that vein. I have a harder time making sense of the data points represented by Josh's sister or the observations from @jhmapleybrittle. I bet there are a million microcultures out there that use these tools in wildly different ways. But I also bet that Facebook more approximates the social space of the school and the office, while Twitter (and maybe Snapchat) works like more socially scaled contexts, like hanging out in a friends room, or riding around in a car with pals.

First up: Josh, thank you for the post. It brought up a lot of great discussion about teens and tech and as a teen librarian, this is the kind of stuff I am always dying to find out more about.

I'm curious about the demographics of the teens behind your post...I'm assuming (based on what I see VS what you wrote about) that the teens I work with and your sisters and her friends are from two very different worlds.

I think that part is key to understanding everything about Tenth Grade Tech Trends. Maine is very different than California. Heck, Southern Maine is very different than Northern Maine! I'd love to see more people tackle these posts from different areas.

In response to Josh:

"Should founders care if adolescents are (or are not) using their products?"

I say yes if the founders are looking to their product thriving in the future. With the teens I've worked, I've noticed that once something becomes dubbed "uncool" than forget about that product. It's done and there's no saving it. I think Twitter has done a good job of keeping Twitter cool for teens...having it be this place to follow celebrities and socialize publically is what is drawing teens in my area to it.

@Keenan

"These users are genuinely interested in what their peers ate for lunch; or screenshots of album art of the music they are listening to on Spotify; or a photo of a badge they just earned on Halo."

That quote is spot on and it makes me think of this Branch:

branch.com

I always like to say to folks that with this current generation of teens, privacy doesn't exist. Life is public for them. This is the new way forward.

Just saw this in my librarian RSS feeds and I thought I'd share: kidsprivacy.wordpress.com